


The Lindworm Husband

by extremelyperturbed



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Hannibal's parents are not the best, M/M, Minor Character Death, Non-Graphic Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-17
Updated: 2013-12-17
Packaged: 2018-01-04 22:39:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1086488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extremelyperturbed/pseuds/extremelyperturbed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written in response to this kinkmeme:  </p><p>http://www.worldoftales.com/European_folktales/Norwegian_folktale_3.html Hannibal's mother eats two things instead of one and ends up with a lindworm as a son. The lindworm demands a wife but keeps eating the bride. Will is told how to avoid being eaten.</p><p>I actually used a few aspects from a slightly different version of the story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Lindworm Husband

As Princess Mischa Lecter was being taken by carriage to a neighboring court, a lindworm forty feet long blocked the way of the procession.

“Hail, sister,” said the lindworm. 

“Why do you call me sister?” said the princess.

“Ask our mother. The eldest child should always be married before the younger. Only when I am married will you be allowed to marry.”

The procession tried to find a way around the lindworm but was unable to find any road where it did not block the way.

***

“Why are you back so early?” said the king to the princess. He had not expected her back for at least two weeks.

“A lindworm blocked my path and demanded to be married before me. Is it true, mother?” said Mischa. 

“Is what true?” said the queen.

“Why does the lindworm call me sister and say that he has to be married first as he is older?” 

The queen turned pale. “I thought I dreamt it.”

“What?’ said the king. 

“It was before Mischa was born. I was trying almost any sort of fertility ritual. I would try almost any potion, lotion or ceremony if it could possibly help me get pregnant.”

“What happened?”

“An old woman I passed on the way from church told me that I would find two onions on a dish in my room. She told me that I had to peel the onions then eat them and I would be sure to bear two children. But when I got back home and saw the onions, I couldn’t remember if I had to peel them or not so I peeled one and didn’t peel the other, just so I could make sure I’d have one child. That month I became pregnant.

The queen continued. “The first time I gave birth, a lindworm came out. The midwife screamed and threw it out the window. Then Mischa came next. I told the midwife to look for the first but it had slithered away. After some time, I thought that it was just a hallucination caused by my fear of giving birth.” 

“So that thing really is my son?”

“I believe so. So you mustn‘t kill it.”

The king sighed in exasperation. “My son or not, who will marry it?”

***

Surprisingly enough, they found that there was one man insanely attracted to lindworms and other monsters named Franklyn Froideveaux. So they granted his wish and had him married to the lindworm. Franklyn murmured reassurances to the lindworm that somehow love would conquer all and that it would turn him human much like the kiss of a princess could lift curses. 

The room they gave the newly married couple was the ballroom since it was the only room big enough to hold both the lindworm and his husband. They closed all the doors and put guards at each exit. Now the king thought all his troubles were over until he opened one of the doors the next morning and found that the lindworm had killed and eaten Franklyn. 

“You ate him?”

“Yes.” 

“I married you off already, so now you should let your sister marry,” said the king.

“The marriages was not consummated so it does not count,” proclaimed the lindworm with lips and teeth stained red with his erstwhile husband‘s blood. “So I am still owed a spouse.”

Infuriated, the king hired a bloodthirsty assassin named Tobias Budge to deal with the lindworm and introduced him to Hannibal as the new spouse. Unfortunately, the result was the same but with the guards hearing more screaming during the night.

The king went riding and noticed a hovel near the edge of his lands. He knocked but there was no answer as it was empty. He rode a little further until he saw a young man herding a small flock of sheep with his dogs.

“What is your name?” said the king.

“My name is Will Graham.”

“You know that you are not to graze on my lands. It is a crime.”

“I’m not grazing on your lands,” he said. “I know where your lands end and the free range begins.” 

“Nevertheless, you need to pay for your trespass. You have been chosen to be married to the wyrm prince.”

Will scowled. “So, the rumors about a monster living in the castle are true.”

“Unfortunately, yes. If you can live through the night, you win your freedom.”

“I can see that you have no expectation of me surviving the night,” said Will. 

“I expect you to come to the castle tomorrow night,” said the king.

***

“I’m actually surprised that I didn’t have to send the soldiers after you,” said the king as he saw the peasant man walk into the castle.

“Where would I run?” snapped Will. “Especially on foot. I do have some requests though.”

The queen raised an eyebrow at the supplies Will requested. It was a bathtub full of lye, a bathtub full of sweet milk, and an armful of birch switches. She also noticed that he was wearing many of his shirts on top of each other. When she asked why, Will simply shrugged and said, “It’s a peasant tradition.”

The king ordered the supplies to be brought to the room. “Why not indulge him?” 

***  
The ceremony was a perfunctory affair. The banquet was worthy of any royal wedding but few of the attendees had much appetite considering what had happened to the previous two spouses.

Once the door was closed, the lindworm looked at his new spouse, who had thrown the switches into the bathtub full of lye. “Take off your shirt so I can take a closer look at you,” said the lindworm.

“Take off your skin so I can see what you are really like,” Will said.

The lindworm stared at him. “Nobody has ever asked me that before.”

“I’m asking you to do it now,” Will said in his most firm and commanding voice.

The lindworm split his skin near his face then it began crawling out of what reminded Will of a sausage casing. The lindworm looked only slightly smaller and a tad less fearsome.

Will threw his outermost shirt on top of the pile of skin. 

“Take off your shirt.”

“Take off your skin.”

The lindworm peeled off another layer. As he did so, he became smaller and his features less distinct. Will noticed that unlike the first layer that was merely a transparent thin layer, this was thicker and more fleshier. 

Will threw a shirt on top of the layer. He kept in mind what the old woman who had visited him the night before had told him. Every curse had a proper counter charm and as long as he did the prescribed steps, he would be unharmed. However, he was beginning to worry about how many skins the lindworm had. He had put on every single shirt he had and even borrowed a few. He was partially encouraged by the fact that each skin was thicker and fleshier than the last.

When the lindworm finally shed its ninth and last skin, Will was down to his undershirt. Where the lindworm had been, there was a bloody, featureless mass that could do little else but writhe on the floor. Will wiped the sweat from his brow before he picked up a switch from the bathtub of lye and began lashing what was left of the lindworm. As one switch broke, he threw it aside and picked another and continued the lashing. 

Once he broke them all, he rested for a few minutes before dragging the lindworm to the milk bath and giving it a good scrubbing. He felt inclined to try drowning it but feared straying from the instructions one iota considering the old woman had told him that his present situation was because of the queen’s inability to follow the simplest of directions. After he washed it as clean as he could, he pulled it out of the bath, wrapped it in the shirts that he had taken off so it appeared to be in a cloth cocoon, dumped it on the bed then collapsed in utter exhaustion on top of it.

The next morning, the king went to the door of the room they were sharing and reluctantly opened it, expecting that the only thing left of Will would be his entrails. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the man was still in one piece and evidently alive. surrounded by nine lindworm skins. He was even more surprised when the cloth cocoon Will had created split to reveal a man Mischa’s age who was very obviously a Lecter.

The now human prince sat up, looked at his husband who was sleeping across his lap and gently shook him by the shoulder. “Wake up, Will.”

Will opened his eyes and found himself surprised to be alive. He stared at the man looking down at him. “Who are you?”

“I’m Hannibal Lecter, the prince whose curse you lifted,” he said. 

“Now that you’re human, I guess I’ll be sent back to herd my sheep,” said Will as he got up from the bed. It was one thing for a shepherd to marry a monster prince but another thing altogether for a shepherd to remain married to a human one. 

“I won’t hear of it,” said Hannibal. He turned to his father and said, “Leave us.”

“But your mother and sister . . .”

“Leave us . . . Just for a little while . . .”

Once the king left the room and closed the door, Hannibal got up from the bed and walked toward Will, who took a step back and looked away. “You seem more scared of me now than when I was a lindworm.”

“I doubt your father would be happy to have me as a son-in-law.”

“My father wants my sister to be married to the neighboring prince as quickly as possible. He can’t do that as long as I remain unmarried. He also can’t simply dismiss a marriage once it has been consummated.”

Will frowned in puzzlement. “This marriage hasn’t been consummated.”

“He doesn’t know that and that small lie can be made true as early as tonight.” Hannibal lifted his chin and gave him a kiss.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> I used onions as what the queen ate as it made more sense why the cure involved peeling the skin. 
> 
> I like this fairytale as I think the peasant heroine is actually quite badass to stand up to a monster and demand it do what she says.


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